Facebook wants to send you fewer email notifications

The world isn’t lacking for Facebook complaints, but chief among them is the deluge of emails its users are flooded by on an hourly basis. And no matter how many filters you set on your inbox, it seems a few always manage to slip through. The more active you are on Facebook, the more notification emails you get, until it’s a sick, never-ending cycle, and you’re seemingly being punished for your site loyalty. But mobile apps and seasoned users mean it’s becoming more and more of a non-issue.

Still, Facebook has announced it is testing a new feature that will limit the amount of emails particularly active users get. “We’ll provide a new summary email and turn off most individual email notifications. If you want to turn them back on, there’s a control in your account settings,” the site says.

You will receive notifications in the form of that well-known red icon when you log into Facebook, but your email inbox won’t feel the pain of separate messages for every friend request, tagged photo, or Wall Post Like your profile’s been through. For the litany of things Facebook users have to complain about, overly active emails is one of the easiest to control. Nonetheless, tooling and retooling your account settings is a pain, particularly on Facebook, and we’re always happy when the site eliminates these types of steps.

Given the fact that the most minute of Facebook updates yields an outpour of backlash, we shouldn’t be surprised that some are calling foul on this latest alteration. Some users aren’t thrilled that Facebook has been slowly implementing and testing this feature without informing account holders or gaining their consent. Couple this with the fact that most users have found their own workarounds for inbox oversaturation, and you’re bound to get concern that Facebook’s adjusting its settings before informing us. Seeing as this isn’t so much a privacy issue as a “it’s the principle of it” sort of thing, we’d imagine it won’t attract too many pitchforks.